What the hell’s the point of communities working together to identify vacant properties and try to get them fixed up, if all that work can be tossed aside by Jack Evans doing the bidding of real estate speculators?

And what happens when some of those speculators are hit with the blighted property tax rate? How long will it then take Evans to decide blighted property rates are too high for his contributors and try to do away with that as well?

Where do other Councilmembers stand on this? Where are Evans’ constituents from Shaw who have to deal with tons of vacant properties? Where’s Jim Graham and Harry Thomas?

This hearing is a chance to see which of our council members represent us the constituents rather than just doing the bidding of the deep-pocketed real estate speculators.

Why does a developer like Douglas Jemal or Shiloh Baptist Church get to sit on vacant properties for decades, while the residents have to deal with all the mess those properties create for the community?

If it’s been habitable up to now, then the repairs shouldn’t take more than 3-4 months for any flipper. Of course there are exceptions, but that’s the breaks. If it was uninhabitable before, then you’ve been sitting on it for years and you are going to pay the price. As for new buyers getting nailed with the tax costs, don’t be silly. Anyone buying a house for major repair would discount the cost of the tax hit in the purchase price. The city doesn’t need to get involved with this.

I live near this one, which is owned by a person, not a foreign government, so DC could have done something in the last 10 years (how long it’s been vacant).

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=4334+klingle&sll=38.931229,-77.085362&sspn=0.014121,0.020535&ie=UTF8&hq=4334+klingle&hnear=&ll=38.931355,-77.085936&spn=0,359.979465&t=h&z=16&iwloc=B&layer=c&cbll=38.931363,-77.085829&panoid=MecTSEqPI-IbQvmtSLlKIQ&cbp=12,178.66,,1,0.87

The problem with the previous vacant property law is that DCRA was too willing to give exceptions when they weren’t due, and unable to give exceptions when they were. To wit, they gave plenty of people exceptions for sham efforts to sell and failed to enforce the 3-year cumulative limit on exceptions (they told me that their records didn’t record exceptions).

Meanwhile, the stories of people buying formerly vacant properties and still getting hit with the tax were simply not an acceptable result. So, a few reforms:

1) Go after blighted properties at a 10% rate
2) Implement a 3% vacant property rate that escalates 1 percentage point each year of vacancy, capping at 10%.
3) Limit exemptions to 3 years, for real, unless ongoing construction is taking place and the owner can substantiate the need for continued time. Provide a 1 year exemption for selling a property, which can be extended for a second year but only by a showing that the price has been reduced by at least 25% from the original listing price, and the original listing price was reasonably comparable to similar properties in the neighborhood.
4) Building permits with ongoing construction merit an exemption.
5) Also an exemption during the pendency of any permitting proceedings (waiting for building permit, historical review, etc.).
6) Create an escrow (refundable) payment for anyone who attests to working with an architect/builder/etc. to generate plans and apply for permits that is refunded (or not charged in the first instance) once building permits are obtained.
7) Automatic exemption for the first 6-month tax period after transfer of the property to an unrelated person (to allow new owners to prepare for rehab).
Make public all properties receiving exemptions *and the basis for their exemption* on the DCRA website

In addition, they need to have a much, much more transparent system for ensuring the information stays current. (ie, automatic review upon sale, permit pulls, etc)